Because they made a technical error in misidentifying a fingerprint on a gun in a Monroe County murder case, two retired FBI analysts have been given one-year suspensions on their forensic expert certifications by the disciplinary body which gave them those certifications.

Because they made a technical error in misidentifying a fingerprint on a gun in a Monroe County murder case, two retired FBI analysts have been given one-year suspensions on their forensic expert certifications by the disciplinary body which gave them those certifications.

Ivan Futrell and George Wynn are appealing the International Association for Identification's decision to suspend them for a year after they provided fingerprint analysis results requested by defense attorneys in the Helen Biank murder case. The suspensions prohibit Futrell and Wynn from testifying or being relied on as experts in any further court proceedings anywhere for that one year.

On Halloween 2001, Biank, 37, was fatally shot in her Barrett Township home, where a fire then was set.

The investigation led police in 2005 to arrest Biank’s ex-boyfriend, Mark Miller, 42, in Florida, charge him with Biank’s murder and bring him back to Monroe County to face prosecution. Evidence against Miller included the murder weapon with a fingerprint believed to be his on it.

Florida defense attorneys William Grant and Milan Samargya contacted Futrell and Wynn, who analyzed the fingerprint on the gun and concluded the print was not Miller’s.

The defense sought to publicize Futrell’s and Wynn’s finding through the local news media, but assistant district attorneys Michael Mancuso and Michael Rakaczewski became aware of the defense trying to do so and requested a gag order. Monroe County Court Judge Margherita Worthington granted that gag order, preventing attorneys on both sides from commenting to the news media about the case until after a trial verdict or guilty plea.

Miller later pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, saying he was playing with the gun when it accidentally went off and shot Biank, who had rejected his marriage proposal. He was sentenced in November 2007 to 15 to 40 years in state prison.

After Miller’s guilty plea, Mancuso contacted the International Association for Identification, which had certified Futrell and Wynn as forensic experts.

The IAI conducted a lengthy investigation into the matter and in February had its attorney, Phyllis Karasov, send Mancuso a letter stating, “Mr. Futrell and Mr. Wynn were found to have made a technical error in their misidentification of the latent fingerprint and, as a result, disciplinary action will be taken.”

Trooper Phillip Barletto of the state police barracks in Fern Ridge, who investigated the murder, released news of the disciplinary action to local news media on Monday, saying authorities are free to discuss this now that the IAI has ruled and the appeal process is underway.